“The success combination in business is: Do what you do better…and: do more of what you do.” – David Joseph Schwartz
Leaders get pulled in a lot of different directions. That’s true whether you’re leading a small business, an international corporation, a local nonprofit, or any other group of people anywhere. Everyone in the group you’re leading, and a bunch of people outside of it, want you, your time, your attention, your money, or any number of other things.
Unfortunately, most leaders struggle to say “no”. When all of those people and entities come looking for something, most leaders feel like they have to give them at least some part of what they want, if for no other reason than the hope that maybe the leader will be left alone in the future. Of course, they won’t be left alone.
Too many leaders – and organizations – spend incredible amounts of time and energy trying to be everything to everyone. And, in the end, they fail. It is impossible to be everything to everyone. You need to recognize that as a leader, and be willing to stand up and say “no” when you see it happening.
Even massive organizations don’t have the skills or resources to be good at everything, and most of us aren’t leading massive organizations. We’re leading small or medium-sized businesses, or families, or teams, that have very finite amounts to give. We have to be incredibly tenacious about guarding the skills and resources we do have.
Think about what the organization you lead does really well. Are you focused on doing that? What’s getting in the way? We quite often convince ourselves that the things getting in the way are immovable. Almost without exception, they are not. We’ve just convinced ourselves of that because we’re all more comfortable with learned helplessness than with actual change.
The same is true for us as individuals. We can’t do everything at a superstar level. So, we have to eliminate everything that isn’t our superstar thing so we can focus on being great.
What are those things that you as a leader do exceptionally well? What will it take to create the capacity for you to do more of those things? What needs to be eliminated?
Don’t make excuses for yourself or your organization. The only way to be successful is to figure out what makes you great and then do as much of that as you can. Take control of your life and your business, and focus on your best.
